


When Marinette Said she was Marinette

by Dotted_Faerie



Series: The Casserole [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aromantic Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Asexual Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Bisexual Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Bisexual Disaster Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Bisexual Rose Lavillant, F/F, F/M, Gen, Minor Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Pansexual Alya Césaire, Trans Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Marinette Dupain-Cheng, both of those are on the aro or ace spectrum, but he doesnt know which and I feel okay doing that because mood, nonbinary lesbian Juleka Couffaine, trans alya cesaire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25623043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dotted_Faerie/pseuds/Dotted_Faerie
Summary: Years ago, almost 7, close enough for a child to fairly call it a decade, Marinette Dupain-Cheng made sure her parents, classmates, and teachers all knew she was Marinette, and that they were mistaken when they thought she was a baker's son. Who knew that it was also the same day, though different years, that Alya had came out as Alya, and that Adrien, his mom supporting while his dad remained unresponsive to reporters, had came out as Adrien. Certainly not her, until a few days after she suddenly makes her only friends since the day she came out in less than 48 hours.Parents of students, and some particularly ill suited faculty had isolated her, and Alya was the one to break down the wall that the stubborn parents had made their children form, how was she supposed to Not fall in love with Alya after that... and when you have been isolated for so long... its no wonder that simply lending an umbrella and giving her a smile was enough to make Marinette fall in love with Adrien.This is the first fic currently in Casserole.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & the classmates
Series: The Casserole [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857349
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61
Collections: Kathal's Inspiring Haircut





	When Marinette Said she was Marinette

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by two messages, describing their haircut, in a multifandom groupchat.  
> "Baffle-a-Kathal Today at 1:26 PM  
> I'M,,,,,, AHHHHHH TRANS RIGHTS PEOPLE
> 
> Baffle-a-Kathal Today at 1:28 PM  
> IT'S SHORT AND FLUFFY AND I LOVE IT"  
> naturally, I had to try to make a fic to match that.
> 
> also hi, welcome to my first fic on ao3. Literally working on a novel and putting that off to write this fluff, please comment!

The day Marinette said she was Marinette, was special, for reasons she did not know the day of. They were reasons she would not learn until years later, when single acts of kindness made her fall in love twice in forty-eight hours, and inspired her to learn about her two new crushes, so she could try to be their friend. Finding out information about one crush was easy enough, her personality was so charming and confident, and she’d already shown she genuinely cared about what Marinette had to say. These simple things made it easy for Marinette to become closer to her first real friend in almost a decade, the first real friend since a few weeks after Marinette made sure everyone else knew she was Marinette.  
She got to learn so much about Alya, she learned about her hobbies, her family, her dream job, her celebrity crushes, her favorite pastry, and her favorite color, all in just one lunch period. Each piece of knowledge was something Marinette held close to her heart, sharing the counterpart when she felt it was okay to. Someone sharing themselves… caring about her enough to even try to talk to her… was not something she had felt from non-family members in years. Each little piece of Alya’s life that she could learn about was a treasure.

The first sleepover they had was so special to Marinette that she could barely speak from excitement the day before. Marinette knew one of her two loves was truly awe inspiring when Alya understood her temporary nonverbal nature, and even more so when Alya made sure that Marinette was still able to communicate by immediately giving her a spare notebook and pencil. Nothing unusual by standard sleepover standards occurred, though it was Marinette’s first sleepover in years, except for Marinette restraining her urge to kiss Alya’s cheek to remove a dot of icing.

The second, and third sleepovers, occurring before the third month of school, were mostly the same, but despite nothing specific being memorable to Marinette, they stayed marked in her calendar, starred, and with smileys drawn by Alya and Marinette both. The fourth sleepover was, perhaps, the most important in a sense of their friendship’s formational days. It was after a full week of Alya gently pulling Marinette out of her shell to see that it was safe outside, and helping Marinette reconnect with people who had distanced themselves from her a decade prior, and just never felt comfortable intruding on her peace to reconnect.

It was on the fourth sleepover that Alya slipped up, and mentioned her crush on Ladybug. Marinette was frantically trying to hide her blush while Alya was visibly panicking at her mistake. In a need to both calm Alya, and avoid unwanted questions from Marinette’s increasingly pink face, Marinette hugging her close seemed like the natural solution. It was Marinette who first broke the silence, though she maintained the hug, as Alya was holding onto her like she was a lifeline.

“I like girls too. I’m bi… and well. You can leave if you’d prefer after you know, and I am sorry if this has been dishonesty from me, but I am also trans, if I am going to go ahead and take one risk. If you want or will need to leave because of that it’s fine, I’ll help you gather your things, you can get as much space as you need from me to feel comfortable, I will send you home with pastries, maman and papa will not be upset at you, neither will I, sorry I didn’t tell you sooner I just-”. Marinette’s confidence faded quicker than she had expected, and she was forgetting to breathe in her panic, thankful for Alya’s interruption.  
“Girl, I can’t be upset at you for being trans when I am too! I was so worried to say anything, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable either! And thanks for helping me with my freakout, I had not planned on coming out of either closet so soon is all. I am pan, and want to kiss Ladybug until we both see stars. … And from the blush I saw on your face just then, I think a certain baker’s daughter wants to do the same to Ladybug. Guess we’ll have to fight Chat Noir for her though… You’re cute enough they’d probably both go for you though.”

As Alya finally released her arms from Marinette, breaking the hug, Marinette fell backwards, suddenly grateful that they had been sitting on the floor, as she hit it with a soft thud. Her cheeks were burning so much she thought they’d melt as Alya’s beautiful laugh rang out. Alya had already realized Marinette’s other new crush, and Marinette would just continue to hope that Alya would remain oblivious to Marinette’s crush on her, though it was increasingly hard to do that.

What is the appropriate level of freak out for a sapphic heart to feel when their crush says they want to kiss you, albeit a costumed form of you, until you see stars? Marinette was still not sure, just lying on the floor when Alya finally contained her laughter, and flopped to lay on her back beside Marinette, before immediately rolling to her side, and burying her face in Mari’s shoulder while giving her a tight hug, silent giggles shaking her body. Perhaps the only thing keeping Marinette from spontaneously combusting at that instant was Tikki, hidden among stuffed animals, doubled over in silent laughter. Marinette shot Tikki a playful glare, and Tikki restrained her laughing long enough to almost look genuinely apologetic, while Marinette sighed and joined the laughter of her two best friends.

It came up the next week, when Alya asked for her first commission from Marinette, offering payment that Marinette only was willing to accept for supplies. Alya asked for this when the class could hear, though she had implied something like it might be her own way of coming out to the class. On a rare morning where Marinette arrived a bit early, Alya requested two rompers. She had no specific requests, though Marinette knew she would be able to tease out more information at their next sleepover, other than one being subtle trans pride, and the other being subtly pan pride.

The rompers were both fairly simple, and Marinette made sure they were both up to school dress code. The Pan one was made with multiple fabrics, most of the torso being a yellow half circle, flat end down, the top and sleeves made from a pink fabric, embroidered to look like a sunset, with many other shades of pink present in the threaded pattern. The rest of the romper was ocean blue, waves embroidered on it, and some breaks in the pan flag color alignment to show the sun’s light reflecting in the ocean.

The trans one was originally going to be similar, with a white-hot sun, but they settled last minute on a less hidden trans theme, as Alya had grown more and more excited during the designing and sizing process. It was mostly plain, except certain areas had been strategically torn, each tear exposing a sewn in display of the trans flag’s colors. To make it even more clear, each pocket was a large, trans flag colored heart, and there were three. One at each of her hips, and one above Alya’s heart itself. Alya received them in class, and used gym class as an excuse to stay in the pan one for the rest of the day, even when running after an akumatized student from a different class, turned into a giant bat for reasons Ladybug and Chat Noir never fully figured out.

The day after that was when the dam of isolation that had surrounded Marinette finally and fully broke down, and she was flooded with apologies, and reconnections… and classmates trusting her enough to come out themselves, who had been scared to come out as anything after the way some adults had reacted to Marinette’s reveal that she was Marinette all those years ago. Nino, the one who’s absence had hurt the most, since they had been best friends, admitted that it was because of his fear of seeking to explore his own identity. When all was said and done, she learned that there was nearly no one in her class who hadn’t been avoiding her because they were worried to face themselves.

The person who she was least surprised by coming out, was the other crush she had formed in the first two days of class, and he knew that would be the case when he turned in his desk and talked to her after class ended. Adrien Agreste, Marinette had learned after a few nights trying to learn as much about him as she could… using the internet to help her where her words seemingly could not, was trans. She had been incredibly surprised to learn that it was solely Adrien’s mother that had stood proud and happy for her son as he worked on letting others learn he was the Agreste’s son, not the daughter that Paris had assumed he was. Details about Gabriel Agreste’s reactions to his son’s coming out were limited, but the few sources that were present did not paint a fond picture.

Marinette, though information was a treasure to her, knew this information was a treasure she had not earned access to before that day, when Adrien let her know that he liked Alya’s new rompers, and said he might want some of his pride flags someday… and then, while she tried not to short circuit from the combination of him talking to her and Alya leaning close to smile proudly at her friend, she realized one simple thing. Adrien was the only one in class who didn’t know that she had not always been Marinette… as she realized by Adrien saying:

“You’re such a good ally Marinette! I know praising allies for being allies is not really something you have to do, but you really are a good ally Marinette!” While Marinette.exe tried to recover and correct Adrien about his wrong assumption, instead it was crashed further when he leaned close and whispered, “This is not as well known, but well. Trans was something obvious enough it required coming out, since I am a model for my father after all, but I also am bi! And somewhere ace, and maybe aro, but I have not done any research on either of those really.”

Marinette finally recovered enough to speak, but not enough to plan her words before she blurted, “I’M BI AND TRANS ACTUALLY HI”. As she melted down to faceplant on her desk from the sudden outburst, she felt Alya’s gentle pat on her back, and a few laughs… not at her, but with her, from her classmates. Rose and Juleka were the first to come out to Marinette after Alya, and they also made sure the class heard them coming out, and they also were making sure Marinette could tell that they were laughing with her, not making fun of her. Rose was pan, Juleka was a nonbinary lesbian, and they had been dating for five years. Their parents knew, Juleka and Rose had explained, but after the treatment some faculty and student parents had given Marinette, Juleka and Rose’s parents had suggested that they not come out until their back up school had officially accepted them, which had been their plan anyways.

Adrien, oblivious to anything unusual about this, excitedly said, “We should get something of ours to match then! I have been trying to get my father to do a pride collection for years, maybe we could use you as a girl model in the shoot with me! Sometimes he displays, or includes in his collections, independent and starting artists’ works, so maybe you can collaborate with him! He is not very receptive usually, but I will bring it up at our next meeting!” Marinette looked back up, saw her two crushes looking at her, one amused, one excited, and felt her purse shaking from Tikki’s laughter as Marinette struggled to form a solid sentence, but her smile said everything that needed said to both of them.

The next day’s lunch, when Adrien, Alya, and Nino were all bonding over their crushes on Ladybug, and Alya and Nino over their crush on Chat Noir as well (and trying to get Adrien to admit that he also had one), Marinette missed Adrien’s confused and blushing expression, too busy mirroring it with her own, as she came back from the bakery, with a box of macaroons, and special bags for Adrien, Alya, and herself, to go with their macaroons. Everyone in the class got three macaroons, one strawberry, one creamy coconut, and one blueberry. The bags for Alya and Adrien contained a calendar with the date circled, and a note, that Alya and Adrien both initially passed over as they saw the fourth macaroon.

They both, and Marinette, had it. It was larger than each of the others, to make its complexity entirely visible. It had five different flavors, each flavor its own section of the macaroon. The first bite was honeyed strawberries, sweeter but bolder than the strawberry macaroon was. The second was blackberry, the third was coconut, the fourth was blueberry, and the final bite was pistachio. The colors did not match well to the flavors, Marinette would gladly admit, since she had helped make them, but it did not seem fair to limit the flavors so much by only using blue, pink or white flavors, and to come up with two blue and two pink ones.

After finishing their macaroons, thanking Marinette between mouthfuls of food, Adrien and Alya both actually paid attention to the calendar. The day circled was the 5th anniversary of the day that Adrien had first come out to the world, and made it known that he was Adrien Agreste, no one else. It was also the 6th anniversary of Alya telling her parents that she was Alya… and, as Nino, looking over at their spots noticed…  
“Hey! Dudette, I didn’t realize its been seven years today Marinette! Happy closet escape -iversary!”

Marinette smiled as Alya and Adrien both connected the dots and looked up in amazement, while Marinette responded to Nino.

“Its also, different numbers but still the day, of Adrien and Alya’s closet escape. We were meant to be best friends I guess!”

In truth, before she realized her two crushes had both, on different years, come out on the same day as her, she had not considered it anything special. She knew Alya had felt the same, because it took a sleepover at Alya’s house, asking Alya’s mom and dad to learn for sure the day that Alya had come out. When she had put together the dots, she looked at her smirking kwami, wondering if some how Tikki could have done this from within the miracle box.

It’s a day that meant nothing to her, until it meant something shared with her two crushes, and her two new friends, that could never be taken away, even if this friendship failed like her past ones had. Marinette's pink face was, for once, not pink from shame or anything but joy.   
This would naturally be changed when other classmates joined the talk about how much they loved Ladybug, but thankfully, people were too preoccupied to notice. 

**Author's Note:**

> yes marinette and adrien both are assumed to have crushes on their hero selves. Yes I did write that solely because imagine being told something as bold as alya told marinette by your crush when you were a teenager. Or maybe you still are while reading this, in which case, good for you. Teenage years are hard.
> 
> also this is literally never addressed in this specific fic, but in fiction the reason so many parents were so set on isolating marinette was bc Chloe's mom did it. It wasnt until Chloe's mom went to new york, in this fic, that Chloe and Adrien were allowed to be friends again. Chloe's meanness towards marinette is partially from slightly internalized antilgbt bigotry (imagine the lesbian homophobe meme, thats her, pre redemption, in my universe), but is also just some flat out jealousy.
> 
> Edit notes-> Fixed some typos, changed it from being Marinette as 5 when she came out to her being 7.


End file.
